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TIES Research Shows More Work is Needed to Get More Immigrants to Go North

News

It’s been a busy year for TIES (The Immigrant Education Society) researchers.

The team at TCIR (TIES Centre for Immigrant Research) has been going through pages and pages of data, following recent trips to Northern Alberta and the NWT.

The visits were part of the TAIGA RISE Project. Commissioned by the Government of Canada, it’s designed to find ways to attract, integrate, and retain newcomers to Canada’s North.

Something, the team has discovered will take some work.

“It’s going to be hard to attract people to go there,” TCIR Manager Kreisha Hilario said.

“But if they know the full benefit and have a realistic understanding of what it’s like to live there, then at least they can make an informed decision.”

The Start of TAIGA RISE

TCIR kicked off TAIGA RISE (Tailored Attraction, Integration and Retention Strategies for Northern Ecosystem) in April of 2025.

Funded by IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada), the three-year project started with visits to various communities in both Northern Alberta and the NWT.

The team conducted community engagement with 35 organizations prior to the formal interview phase. With the support of these organizations, the team interviewed approximately 71 people through individual meetings and focus group discussions.

“We didn’t involve only immigrants or stakeholders,” TCIR Senior Researcher Fatemeh Kazemi pointed out.

“We had a combination of different voices from municipal stakeholders to government officials. We also spoke to long-term and short-term residents, employers, and of course the indigenous community.”

The overall response from the community at large – much more than what they expected.

“I think something that really stood out for me was the interest from the northern communities to talk to us,” Hilario said.

“It actually reflects how our project is needed in the region.”

The Discoveries from TAIGA RISE

Once those discussions were done, the team headed back home to go over the results. It has found a few emerging patterns – some of them surprising.

Hamed Kazemzadeh, TCIR Associate Researcher, said one of the top patterns that stood out was that northern communities struggle to sell themselves to newcomers.

“Unfortunately, they focus less on welcoming and attracting newcomers,” he said.

“They were mostly focused on integration — not attraction. It was one of the surprising data that we saw.”

Hilario added she believed there’s possibly a “miscommunication” when it comes to “relaying” the many benefits and impacts of living in the North. Especially, when it comes to employment opportunities.

“In our surveys, people said that one of the reasons that they’re hesitant to move is lack of employment,” she said.

“People who are already in the North are choosing to stay BECAUSE of the many opportunities. It’s just finding a way to communicate that to people.”

The team did discover significant challenges for newcomers when it comes to housing, and social service programs, but added one of the biggest hurdles was the sense of belonging.

“Building a sense of belonging is an important part of the job that we have been tasked with that we are currently working on,” Kazemi said.

“We believe that this is really critical.”

The Next Steps

The team’s job now is to find ways to bridge all the gaps it found – build a roadmap of sorts.

First step: develop resources using social media materials, brochures, podcasts and much more.

“We’re developing those resources from their own perspectives. What they want. What they see as gaps, and what they see as opportunities,” Kazemi said.

Not to sway – but inform.